Jagex narrowly beat AVEVA in a game which was largely overshadowed by the apocalyptic weather which closed in late on. Jagex won the toss (AGAIN!) and opted to bat. Colledge and Jones opened, but sadly neither got going, with Colledge bowled in the first over, and Jones bowled shortly thereafter, both by the same bowler. P Morgan and debutant L Brett then came together. Brett is another find from player support, and what a find he was, hitting Jagex’s first ever 6 over long on. P Morgan, was obviously spurred into action by the prospect of there being a better player to arise from player support than he, and started pulling out the big shots. In truth, you couldn’t describe his as a chanceless innings, as he was dropped and almost run out on three separate occasions.
In any event, both retired after a decent stand which put Jagex on track for a reasonable total. Brett’s innings was full of the sort of cultured shots one might be more likely to see in weekend cricket, like you’d see in the 118 118 adverts. Their retirement saw Atkinson make his first game of the season, and McClarty come in. Atkinson was unfortunately bowled on 2 trying to go for a big shot. Neil McClarty’s demise on 0 was, well, hilarious. Cooper was umpiring, McClarty was caught in his crease, and a ball thumped into Neil’s (ahem) delicate area. Cooper hesitated for, oooh, 2 seconds, before raising his finger for the LBW. McClarty was incredulous, and hobbled off slowly, obviously in considerable pain.
J Edwards came in, saw we were behind the rate, and started biffing shots. He had Amoraal for company briefly, and then he had Howe for company for a little longer. The later pair helped claw Jagex past 100 and to a competitive total of 113, given the conditions.
Jones acted as replacement wicketkeeper for the absent Tween, and Jagex opened the bowling with Atkinson and Cooper. Both openers started at a pace, so Brett came in for Cooper after two overs. This helped arrest the rate and bring the wickets in. Howe, who had earlier dropped a tough chance at deep midwicket, made a brilliant catch on the run from Brett’s bowling. Atkinson dispatched the other opener, and was bowling brilliantly during a very tight economic spell. Brett also bowled well, and thoroughly deserved his two wickets. Willem Amoraal came into the attack and continued the prudish economy rate.
The weather was looking very, very grim at this point, with a bank of cloud descending over the ground that could well have been hiding one of the ships from Independence Day. Then it started to rain. First, it only rained on Nick Cooper on the deep cover boundary. Then it rained a little on everyone, but still mainly on Nick.
AVEVA gamely carried on, and wickets tumbled, most of them caught, including a decent catch from Edwards. Edwards and Jones then combined to effect a comedy run out. Edwards fumbled, the batsmen ran, Edwards fumbled again, the batsmen continued to run, then stopped in the middle of the strip. Edwards then sent a feeble throw nowhere near Jones. Jones dived the collect whilst the batsmen stood in the middle of the strip, wondering what to do or indeed what sport they were playing. Jones then broke the bails, and one batsmen trudged off. I’m still mystified as to how they mucked it up so royally.
Willem’s last over, in keeping with the weather, was hilarious. Having bowled 3 overs conceded 6 runs and taken 3 wickets, he then bowled one hilarious final over in which he conceded 12 runs, most of them without troubling the batsmen with a ball they could hit. Edwards helped finish things off in the rain, and whilst the last two AVEVA batsmen came surprisingly close, the result was relatively secure, despite what the scoreboard records. The weather in the last two overs was not cricket conducive, to say the least. Glad we batted first.
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